Author Topic: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time  (Read 10481 times)

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Offline Mark / Ohio

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18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« on: February 06, 2010, 12:28:02 AM »
Set a new record for me today I think.  Showing a peak of 18 listeners at one time and been averaging a minimum of 4 at a time all day.   :shock:

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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #1 on: February 06, 2010, 06:32:03 AM »
That's great! Everyone was checking on the snow!!

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #2 on: February 09, 2010, 01:54:13 AM »
The server reset this morning and sometime today had 15 people listening at once about this next storm.  Nice to know people are making use of it!  It would also be neat to know over a days time how many different individuals tuned into it.  

On the other hand it is kind of unsettling with that many relying on it for their latest weather data streaming from my 11 year old computer and 20+ year old scanner on a simple home DSL connection with no AC power backup for the radio and only 5 minutes for the computer.   :-|  
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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #3 on: February 09, 2010, 06:25:43 AM »
That's one reason I haven't broadcast yet, I want to know that I can be counted on when things are bad, if I'm down, I'm worthless. My computer and radio and in one room and the router and cable modem are upstairs so I need two UPS's, one for each room.

Of course, after I get those I'll want a generator, then an underground fuel tank...,...  :roll:

Offline wxtech

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #4 on: February 09, 2010, 08:16:03 AM »
Steve and Mark, you're very right.  Streaming NOAA audio to Wunderground is very wrong.  Don't let your friends and neighbors get accustomed to depending on your service of emergency information.  When they need it most, you can't provide it.  Radio is the most dependable method of reaching the victims of any disaster.  The Internet will be the 'first fail' communications.  
I set up streaming from my First Alert WX167 several years ago and stopped after a few months.  It's just a gimmick for Wunderground to attract users.  NOAA streamers are providing a 'disservice' to unknowing people who don't know that it is not reliable.
Al
« Last Edit: February 09, 2010, 08:17:35 AM by wxtech »
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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #5 on: February 09, 2010, 08:19:18 AM »
I believe that people will start thinking that they don't need a radio because they can get it from the Internet which is not a good way to think at all.

I WISH I was that reliable though!

Offline wxtech

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #6 on: February 09, 2010, 08:23:49 AM »
I believe that people will start thinking that they don't need a radio because they can get it from the Internet which is not a good way to think at all.

I WISH I was that reliable though!
It's not just your end that you need to consider.  Your ISP, the phone connection, cable, whatever you use. 
Also your users links to the Internet will go down for them.  Also do your site visitors have battery back up and for how long.
The Eton hand crank wx radio is the best choice.  Or a $20 wx radio with extra batteries.
Al
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Offline Scalphunter

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #7 on: February 09, 2010, 03:20:25 PM »
We get that arguement from new people coming up here from lower 48 that they hasve the  internet and thier cells to rely on.  Anyone who has spent sometime here know the only person you can rely on is your self. If an microwave tower goes down and weather keeps chopper from getting to it  thier be no phone or internet out of here. I have seen that happen.

So like Al said  radio and batteries, spare gas, and month worth of food here on the shelf. oh and lots of ammo too.

John

Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #8 on: February 09, 2010, 05:01:13 PM »
LOTS of ammo...  :-)

blackjack52

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #9 on: February 09, 2010, 07:01:38 PM »
That's why I plan on just streaming SKYWARN spotter chatter. For all of us w/ sattv.

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #10 on: February 10, 2010, 12:13:10 AM »
....It's not just your end that you need to consider.  Your ISP, the phone connection, cable, whatever you use. 
Also your users links to the Internet will go down for them.  ....

Exactly.  My understanding is the remote terminal such as my DSL connection feeds into is supposed to work for 24 hours without power before the batteries supplying it go dead.  (It did hold into the 3rd day one time but that might depend somewhat on how heavy the load is on the system.  More new houses connected and it might not last that long.)  They just recently upgraded our area to U-Verse.  They installed additional boxes which I noted all have watt meters on them.  Don't know how long the batteries (assuming they have them) in those last.  During our 3 day outage a few years back the cable company had some small generators feeding their line amps and junction points for several hours at a time presumably to charge the batteries back up in them.

On the surface reliability and backup does not seem that complicated or costly for our average hobby setup.  But to cover all possibilities of failure, turns a simple setup into a very elaborate costly setup.  I think for now I will add an additional note to my website under the player about it when I get a chance.  I've always had a note at the bottom of the page about tuning to NOAA or a TV station for the latest info. 

It is handy for those traveling away from home to be able to jump on to hear the local forecast.  Also neat to easily listen to the radio from somewhere else that is under active weather which is why I originally joined in on the project. 
Mark 
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Offline Scalphunter

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #11 on: February 10, 2010, 01:58:22 PM »
Something else  thI have had handy for lot of years is an old rotary phone.... pop wall receptale open  and hard wire it in if have to. Not sure if it will work with all the push button stuff out there but at least it don't depend on electricity to work and  my vechiles are set up for Ham Radio HF Ops.

John

blackjack52

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #12 on: February 10, 2010, 02:24:51 PM »
Just call for a 30-30 John.

Offline SLOweather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #13 on: February 10, 2010, 02:45:56 PM »
I've yet to run into a switch that won't still accept pulse dial. When I was a kid, and confronted with a dial phone with a lock on the dial, I taught myself to pulse dial by flashing the switch hook. I still have at least one rotary butt set around somewhere.

Something else  thI have had handy for lot of years is an old rotary phone.... pop wall receptale open  and hard wire it in if have to. Not sure if it will work with all the push button stuff out there but at least it don't depend on electricity to work and  my vechiles are set up for Ham Radio HF Ops.

John

Offline SoMDWx

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #14 on: February 10, 2010, 05:13:46 PM »
Steve and Mark, you're very right.  Streaming NOAA audio to Wunderground is very wrong.  Don't let your friends and neighbors get accustomed to depending on your service of emergency information.  When they need it most, you can't provide it.  Radio is the most dependable method of reaching the victims of any disaster.  The Internet will be the 'first fail' communications.  
I set up streaming from my First Alert WX167 several years ago and stopped after a few months.  It's just a gimmick for Wunderground to attract users.  NOAA streamers are providing a 'disservice' to unknowing people who don't know that it is not reliable.
Al

Excellent point. that's why I stop a long time ago.... Chews up bandwidth along with too many single points of failure.....

Offline Bunty

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #15 on: February 12, 2010, 08:41:24 PM »
All you need to do is add something like this on your page with a NOAA radio tuner:    "Please do not rely on this page as your only source to hear NOAA radio.  When you need it most storms may cause power outages at this end.  It's much better to rely on a separate NOAA radio with battery back-up".

Also the 2nd home page using modified AltDashboard 6.95 at http://stillwaterweather.com/2ndhome.php

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2010, 11:34:13 PM »
All you need to do is add something like this on your page with a NOAA radio tuner:    "Please do not rely on this page as your only source to hear NOAA radio.  When you need it most storms may cause power outages at this end.  It's much better to rely on a separate NOAA radio with battery back-up".

Thanks Bunty!  I liked your wording on that and just finished adding a modified version to my website and a reference to it below the NOAA player.

I'm sure there must be a way using a script to add a short voice tag along the same lines that would interrupt the NOAA stream every few minutes either internal to the computer or using a circuit externally.   Making the audio file would be easy enough.  One could also plug your website along with the caution.  Interrupting the audio stream from the radio would be the tricky part.   :-k  Ideas anyone?

Don't know what the folks at WU would think about it.  But if it meant the difference between whether or not someone streamed NOAA to them I would think they would be accepting.
Mark 
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Offline wuhu_software

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #17 on: February 21, 2010, 08:02:28 AM »

Firstly, I would like to say that the streaming project was not a gimmick created by Weather Underground to attract users. This was a volunteer project that was started by a handful of people. WU was kind enough to dedicate a server and bandwidth to handle the 150+ audio streams that they are carrying now.

Common sense goes a long way. It should be obvious to anyone that you cannot rely on your Internet connection to provide you will must-have severe weather information that is knocking on your door. Does that mean you should not use the Internet to view pending bad weather like the latest radar images when bad weather is headed your way? When the power lines are coming down, and you lose your telephone and Internet, it is a little late to turn to the Internet for information.

For many people including myself the NWS radio coverage is very poor unless you have an external antenna.  I would guess that 99% of the community where I live is not going to install a roof top antenna dedicated to NWS radio. Does that mean that they should not have the option of listening to the NWS radio via the Internet when bad weather is approaching? Of course not.

The whole point of NWS radio is early warning of pending weather and they do a pretty good job of that. Right now, our area is under a winter storm warning that is not really starting for another 24 hours. Usually there is plenty of advanced notice when bad weather is approaching. If bad weather is headed your way, and you are curious enough to listen to an Internet stream, odds are you are going to look for more information if the stream you normally listen to is down.

Like I said, common sense goes a long way. There will always be people out there that need to read the label on drain cleaner that says "Do not ingest". That being said, I do not think there is a need to inject disclaimers in to the streams or any other warnings about reliability.

Finally, if you are running the appropriate software, the bandwidth and resources consumed by streaming is minimal. I could probably running a stream on a 286 over a modem connection without a problem.

Offline SlowModem

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #18 on: February 21, 2010, 12:04:29 PM »
That is a great answer.  I would have my weather radio streaming if it had an external speaker jack.  Perhaps the manufacturers should consider this for all weather radios in the future.
Greg Whitehead
Ten Mile, TN USA

Offline W3DRM

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #19 on: February 21, 2010, 11:11:08 PM »
I have been watching this thread since its beginning and have thought the same thing that a notice could (or should?) be placed on a web page warning folks about the possibility of an outage just when things are getting tense. However, there are some areas of this country, like rural Nevada, that NWS radio coverage is spotty at best. This goes for cell phone coverage and any other kind of radio reception in those areas. The Internet is the only source of information for these folks so why shouldn't we provide them with at least some coverage, if at all possible. IMHO it would be a disservice to NOT provide this vital service.

When I checked last, there were no NWS streaming broadcasts anywhere in Nevada. Guess I need to get one with a speaker jack and put it to use...

« Last Edit: February 21, 2010, 11:13:42 PM by W3DRM »
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Offline W Thomas

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #20 on: April 14, 2010, 11:56:12 PM »
Unfortunately some areas it may well be the only way to receive NOAA WX Radio. My location is on the fringe for the intended transmitter from Roanoke and from Holston Mountain as well. That combined with heavy paging in the 159 Mhz area makes it's reception almost useless on a standard off the shelf weather radio without some band pass filtering on the antenna.. but on the other hand my Old Syntor Base receives it just fine but I loose the SAME capability that way...until I  adapt it to decode the Duck Farts and stay squelched until the needed code sequence is decoded.

I can relate to the reliability factor and a disservice thought but sometimes half a loaf is better than no loaf  :lol:  Guess that's why I still prefer a copper pair to fiber for a land line connection :-P


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Offline DaculaWeather

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #21 on: April 15, 2010, 06:12:54 PM »
 :grin:
I can definitely see the need for an alternative method of receiving the broadcast and as long as people understand that it too can go down at the most in opportune time.

Offline Mark / Ohio

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #22 on: June 04, 2010, 01:06:43 AM »
Well I sure blew away the old record Wednesday evening as storms were coming in.  Yikes!  :shock:   :shock:



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Offline DanS

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #23 on: June 04, 2010, 01:41:08 AM »
jeesch, I'll say! Must be a good feeling when you get some serious weather. ;)

Offline groze

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Re: 18 NOAA Listeners at one time
« Reply #24 on: June 09, 2010, 06:33:17 PM »

For many people including myself the NWS radio coverage is very poor unless you have an external antenna.  I would guess that 99% of the community where I live is not going to install a roof top antenna dedicated to NWS radio. Does that mean that they should not have the option of listening to the NWS radio via the Internet when bad weather is approaching? Of course not.


I know this is a very old post.  The National weather service is adding towers.  You might try a different frequency.

I looked at the map 1/2 of your county is in 162.400 and the other half is 162.550 possibly controlled by different weather offices.  According to the NWS map both should do the tone & SAME code for your area.   So you can't get either frequency without an outside antenna?

I also notice you are close to the Flint, MI tower which operators on 162.475 but does not warn for your area. 
« Last Edit: June 09, 2010, 06:41:16 PM by groze »